Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | Lost, 6-3 | vs. Buffalo, 1:05pm | Herz (MLB Rehab) vs. Stephan (0-2, 6.00) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 2-1 | vs. Chesapeake, 6:30pm | Susana (1st AA start of ’26) vs. Dzierwa (3-1, 1.89) |
| Wilmington | Lost, 7-4 | @ Jersey Shore, 6:35pm | Biven (3-3, 4.08) vs. TBD |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 5-4 (10 inn.) |
@ Delmarva, 7:05pm | Ju. Reyes (1-0, 2.61) vs. Kreiling (0-2, 7.71) |
Buffalo 6 Rochester 3
• Z. Kent 2⅓ IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 3K
• A. Lara 2⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 3K, 1-0 IR-S
• Krook (L, 2-1) 1IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 0BB, 0K
• Lipscomb 2-4, R, HR, RBI, 20G hit streak
• Wallace 2-3, R, BB, RBI
The Red Wings battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie it in the 5th but the Bisons stampeded for four runs in in 6th and took the series opener, 6-3. Zak “Without a C” Kent was lifted with one out in the third and two runs in with Andry Lara stranding a runner and putting up two goose eggs. Matt “Actually I am a” Krook suffered his first AAA loss with the aforementioned four runs allowed on four hits with nary a walk nor a whiff. Trey Lipscomb extended his hit streak to 20 games with his org-leading 28th HR while Cayden Wallace reached base three times on a walk and two singles to lead the Rochester offense. Roster moves: RHPs Jack Cebert, Ben Grable, and Isaac Lyon promoted from Harrisburg; C Riley Adams, RHP Paxton Schultz placed on T.I.L.; LHP Carson Palmquist placed on the 7-Day I.L.
Chesapeake 2 Harrisburg 1
• Clemmey 5IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 6K
• Virguez (L, 1-1) 1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 0K, HR
• Boissiere 3-4, 2B, RBI
• White 2-4, 2B
Harrisburg outhit Chesapeake 9-5 but were outscored 2-1 in the series opener. Working on a week’s rest for the second time in as many starts Alex Clemmey turned in five innings of one-run ball on three hits and one walk while striking out six. Kendeglys Virguez gave up the go-ahead run on a home run in the 7th and took the loss when the Senators left on runners in each of the last three innings and ten total. Branden Boissiere led the Harrisburg hit column with two singles, a double, and the sole RBI. Roster moves: RHP Jarlin Susana activated from 60-Day I.L.; Eriq Swan activated from 7-Day I.L..
Jersey Shore 7 Wilmington 4
• L. Sullivan 3⅔ IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 6K, HR
• Gray (L, 0-1) ⅔ IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 1BB, 1K
• Hacopian 1-3, R, BB, HR, RBI
• A. Feliz 1-3, BB
The Blue Rocks rallied for two in the top of the 5th to tie at 3-3 but the BlueClaws answered with four runs and held on for a 7-4 win. Liam Sullivan didn’t make it to the 4th for the eighth time in 17 starts, pinched for three runs on five hits (one HR) and two walks over three and 2/3rds. Josiah Gray was lit up for four runs on four hits and a walk over the space of seven (7) batters to take the loss. Chris Hacopian hit his first pro HR and drew a walk while Angel Feliz reached base twice to lead the Wilmington offense. Roster moves: RHP R.J. Sales reassigned from Fredericksburg; RHP Gus Hughes promoted from Fredericksburg; RHP Josiah Gray rehab transferred from Fredericksburg.
Fredericksburg 5 Delmarva 4 (10 inn.)
• Colon 2IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 0K
• Konstantinovsky (W, 1-0) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Boucher (SV, 1) 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• D. Tejeda 1-4, R, HR(5), RBI
• A. Ortiz 1-3, 2BB, 2B, RBI
• Made 1-4, R, 2B, 2RBI
Dashyll Tejeda homered with one out in the 9th to tie it and Manuel Cabrera’s pinch-hit single in the 10th sealed the deal as Fredericksburg took the series opener, 5-4. Leodarlyn Colon went the first two innings and let in a run on three hits, no walks, and no strikeouts. Zack Konstantinovsky picked up the win in his pro debut while Adam Boucher cordero’d around two hits in the 10th to earn his second Low-A save. The FredNats took advantage of eight walks to scored five times on six hits, including doubles by Coy James, Avery Ortiz, and Kevin Made. Roster moves: LHPs Tony Neubeck, Tyler Papenbrock (NDFAs) assigned from Washington; RHP Zack Konstantinovsky (14th Rd.) reassigned from the FCL.
Another move announced late: Luis Perales was promoted to the majors.
It’s a pretty interesting development, as Perales was recently moved to relief, ostensibly to manage his innings. He’s now up to 96.1 IP this season, after throwing 2.1 last year, and 33.2 the year before (the most he’d ever thrown in a season was 89.2 way back in 2023). Though Perales has been excellent in relief. He’s now struck out 12 in 6 IP, while walking 2 and allowing 2 H.
I’m not sure how much more gas Perales has in the tank. I’d have promoted Eddy Yean, but it seems like management doesn’t like him very much, for reasons I don’t understand. He’s been one of a very few effective relievers for the Nats this season, with a 1.80 ERA in 7 major league appearances (10 IP), and yet he’s been wallowing away (effectively) in Rochester for over three weeks now. Since his last demotion he’s got a 1.86 ERA, and an overall excellent 2.86 ERA in AAA. Despite being on the 40 man roster, he’s now been passed over by Perales, Matt Waldron, Erik Tolman, Jake Bird and Carson Palmquist, so it’s clearly intentional. I just don’t know what to make of it.
Cebert and Grable’s promotions are very well deserved. Good to see they’re picking up where they left off pre-trade.
I was never much of a fan of Josiah Gray, and yet my expectations for him keep managing to find new lows. Looks like he’s still a long way off from being ready in the majors, and incredibly he’s only got one year of team control remaining before he hits free agency, so he’s not even any longer a piece for the future. What a disappointing career he’s had since we’ve acquired him.
Rizzo had bad karma the last few years along with some bone head trades
What type of stuff does Zach K have ?
The conga line moves up
Delino gets more hummm baby in his pitching staff with Oh Susana and Sean ( song tensions the same ) back .
Let’s see what Tony Hoosier does as a loogie at Fred .
Junior sakes to the Grabd Canyon . He and Randall a trade echo before the Garcia deal .
So baby arms the young Turks have scooped up like bazzoka gum
Song remains the same
Mr Magoo typing my texts this am
Nat’s knot hole gang
Which free agent arms on the winter market for the Nats retool rebuild structure PROCESS)
?
My take on Perales? They’ve converted him to relief; tacit admission he doesn’t have the stuff to make it as a starter. Relief conversion is an effort to try and get some value out of what seems a horrible trade. New front office clearly didn’t know what they had in Bennett (where was the existing scouting on him? fails all round!!) and overvalued Paredes – presumably “knew him too well” and overvalued the likelihood of his ceiling.
Josiah Gray seems to be done. A great pity. I really doubt whether he’ll ever see the majors again.
Not sure we can say that the Nats “didn’t know what they had with Bennett”. He had a great start with the Red Sox, but over the last month+ his ERA is over 5. Bennett doesn’t miss bats (he never will), and his upside is limited. If his control isn’t perfect, Jake gets hit because his stuff is ordinary for an MLB pitcher.
Perales stuff is light years ahead of Bennett’s. Yes, he was spotty as a starter in AAA (doubts about Perales’ future as a starter are legit), but Luis has been dominant in his brief move to the bullpen. Maybe that is who he will be (a versatile reliever with a high K rate), but don’t think the Nats have given up on Perales as a starter. Also, Perales is two years younger than Bennett. We shall how their careers’ play out, but think the Nats would make this move again if they had the choice. I would.
We shall see about Josiah. Maybe he is washed. Success after TJ surgery is not a given. That said, let’s pump the brakes on evaluating Gray after last night’s appearance for the Blue Rocks. Do we remember Cade Cavalli in his return after TJ surgery? Take a look at his minors numbers in 2025: 5.35 ERA 1.45 WHIP across three level in 2025. Remember following every minor league appearance last year. Painful… he sucked and his numbers gave little hope of future success. A year later, Cavalli might be the best pitcher in MLB since the All-Star break. A reasonable candidate for a long-term extension.
I love following the Nats prospects in the minors on daily basis, but man, the recency bias here is crazy. It’s OK to give players time to develop and/or time to recover from injury. In particular, making any judgment about a pitcher just returning after TJ surgery is nuts.
Oh, and Yean seemed to have 0% trust in his fastball in his last appearance for Washington – 22 straight sliders or something? He’ll not see MLB again until he’s proved that’s behind him…..